27.4.10

Model for A Day

Tiny drops of perspiration dotted my nose. From behind the runway curtain, in the staging area for the show, the crowd sounded massive and a bit frightening. The pounding bass from the DJ matched the racing of my accelerating heartbeat as I realized after nine hours of training, hair, make-up, wardrobe fitting and anxious moments of waiting, it was showtime! In just a few seconds it would be time to strut my stuff down the catwalk in front of the huge crowd gathered for the Schatzi Dirndl 2010 collection.

For a brief moment, I wondered why I didn't decide to sit in the photographers' pit again for a second year, but it was too late to think much more about that.

The experience has left me with a newfound respect for models. I suppose they get used to it but for someone who has never done this kind of thing before it was quite an experience. The day was very long; it took almost 9 hours to prepare plus the hour for the show itself. I was pinched, prodded and poked and occasionally lost as much of the instruction was in German. Not everything fit perfectly and there were periods when I couldn't even breathe. The make-up and hair team were engaged in some kind of tactical warfare with us models as the targets. Every few minutes, I would be either fumigated with hairspray or grenaded with face powder. I didn't dare blink as these were stealthy attacks and I needed to be prepared for each assault.

I would have loved to have done some time-lapse photography on the room where we were all getting ready to show how over the course of day the room exploded into life. First the models arrived, then the hair and make-up team, the photographers and musicians, the dirndls and finally the jewelry team and the women who were to help us through all our dirndl changes. By the end of the show the room was a riot of color and clothing and chatter.

I was not a natural and some of the photographs I have seen expose my inexperience. Awkward poses and strange facial expressions revealed my moments of insecurity. On the other hand, given I knew nothing about fashion shows before yesterday morning, I am happy to have had a fun day, met some nice girls and tried something I never thought in my life I would have done. And, oh the dirndls. I loved the collection and getting to wear four gorgeous dirndls!

So there goes my fifteen minutes of (dubious) fame I suppose but now I can add runway model to my CV. And, yes, I get a kick out of that.